History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 1: From the Old Testament to Origen

by Henning Graf Reventlow

From the very beginning, Holy Scripture has always been interpreted Scripture, and its interpretation determined the development and the history of both early Judaism and the first centuries of the Christian church. In this volume, the first of four on the History of Biblical Interpretation, readers will discover how the earliest interpreters of the Bible made the Scriptures come alive for their times—within the contexts and under the influences of Hellenism, Stoicism, and Platonism, as well as the interpretive methods developed in Alexandria. Particular attention is paid to innerbiblical interpretation (within the Hebrew Bible itself and in the New Testament’s reading of the Hebrew Bible), as well as to the interpretive practices reflected in the translation of the Septuagint and the writings of Qumran, Philo, the early rabbis, the apostolic fathers Barnabas and Clement, and early Christian leaders such as Justin Martyr, Marcion, Irenaeus, and Origen.

Genres: Theology

404 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Hany Abdelmalek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading about the history of interpretation is a challenge. This 1st volume is specially challenging since it deals with inner biblical exegesis, Jewish and early Christian interpretations.

[Tyson Guthrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reventlow's dependence on Source Criticism was getting pretty tedious, but once we had a full Bible, and he was commenting on thinkers who read it like Scripture, things got really good.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, the editor. So many typographical and grammatical errors. And the section on Origen has his name misspelled so many times!!!

That said, while the read is dry in places, the investigation of early exegetical works is thorough and clear. Not exhaustive, but Reventlow picks up good exemplars from each period. Very readable; would be an excellent textbook for an overview course. Looking forward to reading the next volume.

[Dougald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too impressed with this translation. I will be abandoning this series for this one: http://tinyurl.com/7fyhswo It is the history of interpretation edited by Magne Saebo.